1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filing system capable of searching a designated document information among it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, a highly systematic information society has been developed and information of large volume is generated day by day. In order to utilize such information efficiently, it is demanded to construct an efficient system in information management. In the field of patent management, an efficient system is desired for utilizing and managing voluminous patent related documents and information such as laid-open patent and/or utility model publications. Japanese patent information organization (JAPIO) is now ready to start information service in connection with laid-open patent and utility model in order to satisfy such needs as mentioned above.
In Japanese laid-open patent publications, for example No. 78251/1972 and 78255/1972, a filing apparatus is proposed. In the filing apparatus, information contained in documents is read optically by two-dimentional scanning and stored as image data in a data file memory device. When search data is input thereinto, the data file is searched at a high speed and, then, designated information is outputted on a display or as hard copies.
In the filing apparatus mentioned above, a size equal to a size of the document is assigned for memorizing a document in the data file memory as a registered size in order to utilize the data file memory efficiently. As the result of that, various sizes of image data are mixed in the memory.
Meanwhile, image data to be outputted is once transmitted from the data file memory to so called page-buffer memory upon outputting them and one unit of image data which is defined in the page memory is outputted to a display apparatus or a copy machine. An image size (output size) to be outputted can be designated by an operator.
However, if an output image size designated is different from a registered image size, some inconveniences are caused. Namely, if an output size smaller than a registered size with respect to image data to be outputted is designated, image data more than volume determined by the designated output size is transmitted to the page-buffer and, therefore, image data having been stored already outside of the designated output size in the page-buffer for composing two images might be destroyed by the image data transmitted thereto, since the data transmission from the data file memory to the page-buffer is controlled in the above mentioned filing apparatus in accordance with the registered size irrespective of the designated output size. Further, if the image data is written into the designated area of the page-buffer from the top address thereof, bottom portion of the image data is not entered.
On the contrary to the above, if an output image size larger than a registered image size is designated, image data other than those to be outputted is outputted together with the latter.